Was there anything Kate didn't excel at?

[Mommymoments]

Having read many articles Kate (pippa & James also) is so accomplished since she was tiny.
She is very sporty.. strong swimmer, excellent skier, hockey player, lacrosse, athletics, netball.. Plays piano very well & also was lead in schools drama production. Excelled at art.
It seems the Middleton's didn't do much in the way of equistrian sports?
Would love my dc to be as accomplished & well rounded. Can't afford Marlborough or any private for that matter!

I've not read the full thread but I do agree that Kate & indeed Pippa are very accomplished. They may be very talented but money, ambitious, aspirational parents help massively. Carole & Michael played a huge part in moulding the kids into well rounded adults at ease rubbing shoulders with the top echleons of society.

Yes, extraordinary how Charles managed to speak in French for only two minutes of a twenty two plus minute speech to the French Senate last year, and that was talking hesitatingly from prepared notes. The rest of the speech was in English. I think reports of his fluency may be vastly over egged. When I say fluent, I mean fluent - equivalent to Macron's fluency in English for example.

ToffeeTalk · Today 10:39

Absolutely - even if he's not actually fluent, he could have practised the speech fully in French for that occasion.

I'm a mild royalist, but I agree with the criticism here. With their resources it ought to be a priority.

I get why Welsh might be more difficult both to learn and to keep up if you're in a 'use it or lose it' situation, and not being exposed to it regularly, but as PoW both Charles and William should make this part of their professional training.

All those people in Denmark, Holland, Sweden, Iceland, Germany ,Estonia ( other countries are available) whose spoken English is fluent, colloquial and grammatically correct might beg to differ.

@viques they need to learn English as it is the language of international business. They are also fed it from day one in school and things like music , movies etc. You are not going to get understood in Estonian in many places. mida sa arvad?

"All those people" doesn't describe every single person in those countries, nor does it account for the fact that English is the language spoken most widely in popular culture and the world's aspirational emigrate-to countries - it is so much easier to immerse yourself into without a lot of effort. And frankly, if you live somewhere like Iceland (population considerably less than 1/2 million), and want to go and work elsewhere in the world, you have a huge motivator to learn English.

It's a sad embarrassment for a lot of English speaking countries that the people rarely ever speak other languages!

I find it pointless to point fingers at the royal family for being the same!
(Although some of them do speak more than the average person on the street!)

I am very good at learning languages - many A Levels and can read books in original language in several. However, can I speak them? In my head, yes, but out loud? Noooo, all that comes out is a strangled squawk

@viques - I don’t think you can compare the proficiency of northern Europeans’ English to our ability to speak whatever language. We just don’t need to learn! Incidentally, the average Italian/French person (not holiday resort staff) is deplorable at language learning.

My point is that whatever the motivation, and I understand that point about English being a common language ( though Estonian is interesting as it apparently depends on how old you are as to what your first language is due to “ neighbourly” influences) , but the issue is that no one says “ Oh dear, some English people aren’t hard wired to learn another language.” They just get on with it and learn a second or third language, whereas in the UK speaking a second language, let alone a third language is the equivalent of being able to ride a unicycle while juggling fire and sharp knives, clever stuff but doesn’t really matter when it comes down to it.

And don’t get me started about the hierarchy of languages where often European languages are seen as high status languages , but the ability to speak several other non European languages is not seen as anything to be proud of.

Evidence of trying to learn it would be usefull at this point.

The point with PoW is we do not know if effort was made.

The Prince of WALES should, out of respect, make it his business to learn Welsh.

It shoud be in the job description.

Language learning is like piano - all can learn it but infortunately it takes time and effort.

I am a terrible piano player. There is no beauty in what I produce. But - I can play after years of learning but not much practise. It just did not grab me.

But - I am not Prince of Piano - I did not have to learn it.

Early 1990s? William is what, 40? 41? He wasn't going to uni in the early 1990s. He would have been 10. He went early 2000s. And you generally needed more than AAB for Oxford.

William got an A in geography a C in biology and a B in art history. For someone with his education and tutoring these were not stellar grades.

Even Kate's AAB was very average for her school. No excelling

I didn't even go to uni in the UK so you are wildly off the mark

@Joan51 "King Charles is fluent in Welsh, French and German, Camilla speaks French and Anne is fluent in French and German."

Do you mean fluent? Or do you mean being able to read a speech aloud with a reasonable English speaker's accent.....

The discussion was about grades needed for top universities in the period before the Wales' went to university (context: that St Andrews was not for the most able candidates until after William's time there). No you didn't need more than AAB for Oxford, that was the standard offer at the time without going through the Oxford entrance exam. I know this for a fact, as I went there.

Evidence of trying to learn has been linked up thread. Is there any evidence that he is not trying to learn now? I have already said that I did not disagree that learning a foreign language would be a good thing for working members of the RF.

The Duke of Cambridge sitting at home in Anglesey learning Welsh or being out and about there flying a rescue helicopter? I know what I think is more useful.

He was training not working. And he had plenty of time to learn the language

@Mymilkshakebringsallthepapstomycar
😘The discussion was about grades needed for top universities in the period before the Wales' went to university (context: that St Andrews was not for the most able candidates until after William's time there). No you didn't need more than AAB for Oxford, that was the standard offer at the time without going through the Oxford entrance exam. I know this for a fact, as I went there.

When were you there? In the early 1990s or early 2000 when William was at St Andrews ?

If it was the early 1990s then I have no idea what the point is

Ever working for a living?

That's not correct.

I was replying to this statement of yours, made in the context of others discussing what grades etc they had needed to get into St Andrews in the years before William went there; and once again, in the context of you saying that it only became a difficult university to get into after William had studied there:

The proof that it wasn't as hard is she got in with AAB. That's not what you'd need to get in to a really tough uni even 20 years ago.

Catherine's A'levels were in Maths (A), Art (A) and English (B). I have never studied art to any high level, so can't comment on that grade, but the other two subjects are hardly of the Micky Mouse variety.

@pokebowls he was not training. He was working.

She worked as a buyer for jigsaw